Random links
- Climate Proposal Puts Practicality Ahead of Sacrifice
- I'd describe this article as climate-change-meets-reality. It's a lot easier to talk the talk than actually do anything about it, e.g.: "The Kyoto Protocol was supposed to put Europe on a new energy path, but it contained so many loopholes that the rate of “decarbonization” in Europe did not improve in the years after 1998, when the protocol was signed, or after 2002, when it was ratified. In fact, Europe’s economy became more carbon-intensive in 2010, he says — a trend that seems likely to continue as nuclear power plants are shut down in Germany and replaced by coal-burning ones." (Some interesting policy ideas though).
- Israelis Facing a Seismic Rift Over Role of Women
- It's not just places like Afghanistan where you see this sort of thing.
- Bright white headlights: are they safe?
- "Driving at night on dark, two-lane, undivided, winding roads has become even more challenging in recent years. The introduction of super bright high-intensity discharge (HID) headlights ... [allows] owners to see farther down the road and to spot pedestrians and animals from a distance, but at the same time they can create visual chaos and temporary impairment to on-coming drivers, pedestrians and cyclists."
- New York pastors and lay people arrested for praying in protest
- Compare to the treatment of the Occupy protesters. This group being one which is willing to pay money to rent otherwise unused facilities (which generally seems like a win for both sides).
- The Rise of the New Groupthink
- An interesting read: "Lone geniuses are out. Collaboration is in. But there’s a problem with this view. Research strongly suggests that people are more creative when they enjoy privacy and freedom from interruption. And the most spectacularly creative people in many fields are often introverted, according to studies by the psychologists Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and Gregory Feist. They’re extroverted enough to exchange and advance ideas, but see themselves as independent and individualistic."